1. Explore Theatre: A Backstage Pass
Michael M. O’Hara
&
Judith A. Sebesta
PowerPoints prepared by the authors
This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;
any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

2. Chapter 2
What is a Text?

3. Is this a text?
Insert picture of a work of Art

4. What about this?
Insert a picture of a popular movie poster.

5. And this? Insert photo of a popular album/music cover.
(Play the song “Missed the Boat”) or any song you like

6. Is this a text?
Insert picture of a popular video/on- line game (Such as World of Warcraft)

7. Or is it all of the above?
Paste all four pictures from previous slides

8. CLICKER QUESTION A. B. C. D. E. All of the Above
Paste those same pictures here to make it a visual question
So, which one is a text?

9. Text Defined
Anything that can be read and analyzed, interpreted, and critiqued.

10. Play defined
A plan or blueprint or outline (two- dimensional) for a production.

11. Tips on Play Reading Read in one sitting, taking breaks between acts
Read more than once
Title=important
Read carefully both cast of characters and stage directions
Think of play as series of actions, and attempt to visualize those actions

12. Aristotle’s Six Elements
From The Poetics ( BCE)
Plot
Character
Thought
Diction
Music
Spectacle

13. Plot Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace,
Exposition
Point of Attack
(beginning, middle, or late)
Plot
Star Wars
Episode I: The Phantom Menace,
Episode II: Attack of the Clones,
and
Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
These 3 films have an early point of attack in the entire story George Lucas tells.
Star Wars
Episode IV: A New Hope,
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back,
and
Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
These 3 films have a middle point of attack.
The final 3 films (if made) would have had a late point of attack.

14. Plot Inciting Incident Complications: Discoveries Reversals Climax
Denouement

15. Genre
A kind or type of thing, such as:
Tragedy
Comedy
Melodrama

16. Characteristics of Melodrama
Musical accompaniment
Good vs. evil
Poetic justice
Ends happily
Lightning conversions

17. Characteristics cont. Suspenseful plots w/ narrow escapes Variety via
special effects
exotic locales
Suspenseful plots w/ common devices
Strange coincidences
Comic relief

18. Clicker Question:
Why do you think Melodrama is no longer popular as a theatrical genre?
A. No one believes in good triumphing over evil anymore
B. The term "melodrama" is misleading (these plays are not "mellow")
C. Film has subsumed the form

19. Melodrama -- Example
Raiders of the Lost Ark